All you need is tea...
Ok, so this may not be considered a traditionally 'foodie' thing to post about, but one thing I have learned from spending extended periods of time on the road and having travelled via number of different methods (planes, trains and automobiles all included), through a number of different countries/continents, is that something that can never be over estimated in it's unfailing simple provision of pleasure is a good cup of tea! On our first trip around South East Asia in 2013, this little cup of happiness proved itself to be harder to come by than I had expected and at times than I was willing to accept!! Over the course of the 9 months that we ventured around I was served a concerningly broad plethora of hot beverages that were classified as 'tea'. Now yes, it is true, under the right conditions I am the epitome of an English tea snob...100 degree boiling water, a PG tips pyramid tea bag, fresh milk and one sugar (and the perfect shaped mug if I'm allowed to be really fussy)! However, on the road I am more than willing to be flexible...Lipton tea is fine, hot milk, powdered milk...heck, coffee whitener would even do. If not whitening agent is available I will put up with black tea and if I have to forgo the sugar I can deal with that too. But even with my liberal attitude to what can consist as tea, I do have my limits!! One such limit reaching occasion occurred when we were visiting Angkor Watt in Cambodia on aforementioned SE Asia trip. We had got up before the crack of dawn in order to go and watch the sunrise over the temple plain (which by the way was incredible) and by about 10am my then girlfriend (now wife) and I were desperate for a morning caffeine fix. Our tuk tuk driver happily informed us that there was a cafe in the centre of the complex that was targeted at tourists and served both tea and coffee. While we usually ignore these sorts of places we jumped at the chance to have a quick hot caffeinated beverage before continuing on our day. We went, and Riv was served a perfectly acceptable instant black coffee. I on the other hand was served an abomination so abhorrent that even recounting this story via keyboard causes my inner tea loving Brit to cringe a little. What I had requested, off the menu might I add, was a hot Lipton tea with milk. What I was served was... Are you ready for this?! A glass beer mug, the bottom third of which was full of a thick layer of condescend milk (with a couple of token dead flies scattered throughout), atop this puddle of condescend joy was what can only be described as warm tap temperature water and to complete this creation a sad little Lipton tea bag, floating on the surface, trying it's very best to do something relating to brewing in this tepid clear liquid! I wanted to cry. I didn't even know what I could do to try and make this 'beverage' acceptable, but this was not the cup of tea I had imagined when the possibility was planted in my head. It was at this point that we made an executive couples decision. As soon as we got back to England (which was only a couple of months later) we were going to buy a travel kettle, and arm ourselves with a supply of teabags. If we could get sugar/milk in any form along the way then that would be a bonus, but the key elements for something that truly resembled tea (hot water and a teabag) would always be there. From the moment we acquired our travel kettle we have never looked back and would never again travel without it, to any county or via any method. It comes with us in our backpacks, it came on the cruise, it is currently with us in our camping car. We now also travel with a packet of sweeteners (as sugar proved to cause some messy problems) and often some powdered milk. Like I said, it's not the tea snobs ideal cuppa, but it feels almost as satisfying at those moments of stress, tiredness or total unreasonable meltdown! The simple pleasure of a cup of hot tea can solve almost any problem...at least for me and it has regularly proved to be the perfect remedy for range of traveller's woes! Morning, noon or night there is nothing quite like a good cup of Rosie Lee (by the way, that tea for you non-Brits out there) to brighten up my day!
0 Comments
CaipirinhasSo, I realise this section is called 'Foodie Friday' and alcoholic drinks, or any other drinks for that matter, are technically not 'food' but a number of countries around South America have traditional drinks associated with them as well as traditional foods. The 'foodie' in us feels it's important to try all the different things that feature in the gastronomic make up of a country. To that end, purely for research purposes, while in Brazil we had to try their national cocktail...a few times...simply to provide sufficient basis for comparison (of course)! As I said, caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail and is made using cachaça which is Brazil's most popular alcohol. It's a clear distilled alcohol made from sugarcane, pretty similar to rum and it's strong stuff!! Caipirinhas are amazingly easy to make and equally as easy to drink...a dangerous combination when coupled with the fact that Brazil can be an unfeasibly hot country and a nice refreshing cocktail definitely feels like a good idea come happy hour!! To create this alcoholic Brazilian delight all you need is fresh lime juice, sugar and cachaça. Mix the lime juice and the sugar, add the cachaça, pour over ice and BOOM, you have a caipirinha! See, I told you it was easy! Made right you have the perfect combination of sweet, sour and alcoholic and like I said, they can be seriously dangerous!! I would highly recommend giving this Brazilian institution a try! Should you find cachaça difficult to get hold of this can be just replaced by rum or alternatively you could add vodka instead, thus creating a variation of the caipirinha called a caipiroska. Personally, having tried all three (like I said, solely for research purposes) nothing quite matches up to a real caipirinha but I'll leave you to have a little mixology session to make up your own mind! Vamos começar os trabalhos!! Just incase you would like to make one of these at home here is the recipe.
Caipirinha
Directions:
This really is all up to how you like it. Riv likes hers a little more limey so adds an extra squeeze of lime but everyone will like theirs a little differently. Enjoy! |
Follow us on Instagram or send us a messageAbout Foodie FridaysWe love food, as most people do! And when we are on the road this doesn't change. We, like many people, believe that food is one of the best ways to really get to know a culture and it's people, as so much about the way people live their lives around the world is centred around food. This means that when we travel we actively seek out the local foods and delicacies. Sometimes that comes in the form of unusual and exotic produce from markets and sometimes from street food vendors serving an array of barbecued, fried, steamed or entirely indistinguishable goodies. Having tried and tested these goodies for some time now, on our adventures around Asia, Europe, North and South America we have discovered some pretty wonderful treats that we have decided should earn a bit of publicity. So, as the working week drifts away and the weekend winks at you like a naughty temptress we will share with you one of the delights that we have encountered from around the world! We hope you enjoy reading about these as much as we enjoyed eating them! Archives
October 2017
Categories
All
|